


Foundations

by Maggiemaye



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Gen, Team as Family, hints of Robstar and BBrae, not actually shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8425603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maggiemaye/pseuds/Maggiemaye
Summary: The aftermath of the fight was...difficult, sometimes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Birthday fic for Rose that I'm just getting around to posting here. I've loved this show forever but I'm just dipping my toe into the fandom...hope you enjoy this ficlet! 
> 
> Also: I'm @fatesofstarlight on Tumblr and I take fic prompts from time to time :)

  
It was just Plasmus. That’s what they had all said when they’d gotten to the scene. No big deal--just Plasmus. The battle hadn’t stretched them much; it had even been a little fun to tag team against the giant goop monster. But it was all too easy to forget that when heroes and villains clashed, someone always got caught in the crossfire.

  
By the time Cyborg was able to pull the last survivor from the rubble, he wasn’t feeling like such a big shot anymore. The small boy had a gash in his forehead, but it didn’t look deep. Cyborg performed a quick scan of his vitals before delivering the child to his hysterical mother’s arms.

  
“His tibia’s fractured,” he told the woman. “His heartbeat’s strong, but make sure he gets checked out for a concussion. With these things you never know.”

  
The mother nodded, still staring down at her son. When she did look back up at Cyborg, her tears had calmed down a bit.

  
“Thank you. And thank the other Titans too, please. You saved our lives.”

  
“Any time, ma’am,” Cyborg replied with a reassuring smile. The smile was harder to keep, though, as he looked at the piles of brick, dust, and debris around him.

  
“It’s what we do.”

 

* * *

 

  
“Starfire! It’s really you!”

  
“You were amazing!”

  
“But I didn’t see you fly! Can you show us again?”

  
Starfire smiled at the three little girls, but she was sure the smile was weary.

  
“Please,” she said kindly, “please, I am flattered, but I do not think--”

  
“Ooh, and your starbolts? Can we see those?”

  
Starfire sighed. The problem was, her powers stemmed from joy, and it was difficult to feel joyous on command. She wasn’t like Cyborg or Beast Boy, who had no hesitations about using their abilities to entertain civilians. Starfire was not so inclined to do this; she already felt alien enough in this world.

  
“I love you, Starfire,” one of the little girls said, catching Starfire by surprise. “I want to be a superhero when I grow up. But...”

  
Her face fell as she ducked her head.

  
“But I don’t have any superpowers. I can’t even fly.”

  
“Oh! But you do not need to fly!” Starfire replied earnestly, crouching to meet her eyes. “You simply need to want the world to be a better place. If you wish to become a hero, that is the place to begin.”

  
“Really?” The girl looked back up at Starfire, a big smile on her face again. Starfire smiled back, straightening her posture, and before she knew it her feet were hovering above the ground.

  
“Really. I promise, that is the first step.”

* * *

 

  
Beast Boy could feel his ears drooping farther and farther under the postmaster’s tirade, until they were practically touching his shoulders.

  
“How do you expect Jump City to function without a post office? Do you know how much your little stunt is going to cost this city? Not to mention the people that could have been killed!”

  
“It wasn’t a stunt! I was trying to...I didn’t mean...look, would you rather have Plasmus still running around the city destroying everything?”

  
“All I see right now is what you destroyed!”

  
Beast Boy was a second away from shifting into something big and intimidating (a grizzly bear was his first choice) when Cyborg rested a hand on his shoulder.

  
“Let it go, BB,” he said before turning to the postmaster. “If you have a complaint, you’ll need to take it up with the mayor’s office. That’s the procedure.”

  
“Oh, you had better believe I have a complaint--”

  
Cyborg gestured for Beast Boy to leave, muttering “I got this” under his breath. Beast Boy nodded, resolving to let Cyborg have an extra turn with the good controller when they got back to the tower. He almost didn’t notice himself shifting into a dog as he walked away, tail between his legs.

 

* * *

 

  
The aftermath of the fight was...difficult, sometimes. In the heat of the action there was no time for emotion, but afterwards, everyone’s fear, relief, despair, anger, and whatever else flooded past Raven’s defenses. Her own turmoil was bad enough, and it was only heightened by absorbing others’. She needed a place to feel calm, but wasn’t sure where to go until she spotted Beast Boy by himself on a park bench.

  
Raven floated over to sit next to him. Beast Boy was rarely quiet, but he didn’t say anything to her as she approached. Raven cleared her throat, feeling a little lost.

  
“You did well today.”

  
“I pretty much obliterated the post office,” he replied, sounding dejected. “I hate it when people are mad at me.”

  
“Plasmus was in there. You did it to stop him. Civilians just don’t see it the way we do sometimes.”

  
Beast Boy’s ears perked and he smiled at her. Raven didn’t smile back, but she felt her stomach flip. A jagged crack formed in the sidewalk; Raven pulled her hood up farther and prayed Beast Boy wouldn’t notice.

  
“Thanks, Rae.”

  
“It’s Raven,” she said automatically. The correction was almost as familiar as her mantra by this point; she found that those three syllables helped to quiet the chaos in her mind. Leave it to Beast Boy to help her without having the slightest clue what he was doing.

  
“I guess we should go get pizza, right?” Beast Boy suggested, looking a little brighter. “It’s tradition.”

  
“Later, Beast Boy,” she said. She loved her friends, but roughhousing over pizza would not help her frayed nerves at the moment. Beast Boy seemed to understand, and fell quiet.

  
They sat in silence for a while, watching things begin to slowly approach normal on the Jump City street. After considering the action for a moment, Raven laid her head on his shoulder.

  
Beast Boy froze. Raven tried not to think about this, instead willing her mind to calm. He was sweaty, but comfortable, and she could feel his breath quicken a little.

  
Despite her thumping heart, all the street lamps remained intact.

* * *

 

  
Robin wondered from time to time what it would be like to work in Gotham. The Teen Titans weren’t meant to be his only years of crime fighting, that much he knew for sure. Gotham meant more prestige, more serious villains, more challenges. Robin craved that sometimes, when the tower felt too small and their work too pointless. Plasma was out of the way for today, but jail wouldn’t hold him long. He’d be out wreaking more havoc within three months, Robin guessed. .

  
“Robin, are you ready to partake in the celebratory ‘pigging out?’” Starfire asked brightly, gliding over to him with her customary grace.

  
“Yeah, man, time to hit up the pizza parlor. I’ve been looking forward to extra cheese and bacon all day.” Cyborg’s voice carried from halfway down the street as he saunters over. Behind him, Raven and Beast Boy walked beside each other. They were both silent as they walked--Beast Boy didn’t even push back against Cyborg’s bacon comment--but they were smiling.

  
Starfire took his hand and Robin couldn’t help but gaze at her. Really, he should have been used to her otherworldly beauty by now, but somehow it kept surprising him. Behind her, the skyline stretched up tall; off in the distance, Robin could just make out the top of Titans Tower. He took it all in until the rest of their friends approached.

  
Gotham might be something to consider for later. But right now, for Robin, Jump City was home.


End file.
